Many European cultures took one look at this large black bird with an intense gaze and thought it was evil in the flesh … er, feathers.

In the past, some European cultures viewed ravens as evil in disguise. When the wolf is done eating, the raven gets the leftovers. Ravens have been known to imitate wolves or foxes to attract them to carcasses that the raven isn’t capable of breaking open.

They also mimic other noises, like car engines, toilets flushing, and animal and bird calls. In captivity, ravens can learn to talk better than some parrots. In the wild, ravens have pushed rocks on people to keep them from climbing to their nests, played dead beside a beaver carcass to scare other ravens away from the feast, and stolen Costco customers’ packaged meats right out of their carts. Since the other ravens are smart too, this only works sometimes. If a raven knows another raven is watching it hide its food, it will pretend to put the food in one place while really hiding it in another. Many ravens got the food on the first try, some within 30 seconds. In one logic test, a raven had to reach a hanging piece of food by pulling up a bit of the string, anchoring it with its talon, and repeating until the food was in reach. When it comes to animal intelligence, these birds rate up there with chimpanzees and dolphins. Here are 10 fascinating facts about ravens. The raven has long been associated with death and dark omens, but the real bird is much more multifaceted. Edgar Allan Poe knew what he was doing when he used the raven instead of some other bird to croak “ nevermore” in his famous poem.

Raven's Tale by T.K. Cassidy